Smithsonian 2.0

First impressions - to build it alone or with others

A great, engaging talk from Bran Ferren. One of his more provocative remarks was to challenge us to get out of the mindset of competing with Google and switch gears to take advantage of it. This hit a sweet spot in my heart, even though I come from years of schooling in the art of librarianship and have been party to that competition for many years. Yes, I think the idea is sound and more actionable than one might think.

So, here's another layer - that Google or Wikipedia or their peers are not really the "knowledge" that we might think others think them to be. By that I mean that, they gather content - they are structures and vehicles purposed to gather and host content. The degree to which they have been successful is the result of content owners believing in the viability of Google/Wikipedia's concept and structure and using those vehicles. Content seekers learn that these are places to find the content. And Google becomes a verb.

I think at the heart of this whole question is whether we are willing to let another entity "carry" our knowledge and expertise to the multi-generational bodies of today's and tomorrow's discoverers. One of the more popular sets of images SI posted to the Flickr Commons earlier this year was that of our dead scientists. Sure enough, those images were grabbed by others who attached them to Wikipedia entries. A demonstration of SI assets at work, but by others who see Wikipedia as this type of vehicle. Can we grab hold of this same mindset? Is this the right mindset? If it's not spot on - I think it is - or it's awfully close.

The conference begins, Smithsonian as new Pantheon?

The day started out with a welcome from Secretary Clough and his charge for us to ask the right questions and spark discussion as to how the Smithsonian can become the forefront in the dissemination of knowledge to the public.

Dissemination of knowledge was one of the topics that Bran Ferren of Applied Minds, Inc. addressed here in the S. Dillon Ripley Center.

The entire Library of Congress, he said, could fit within 10-20 terabytes—that's maybe 5-6 of some of the high end laptops available on the market, either now or within a few years.

So what's the Library of Congress to be for if we digitize everything (which we must do if the mission/vision is to disseminate information)?

Such were some of the mind-nudging questions and tidbits he threw at the audience of about half Smithsonian staff and half outside participants invited to take a look and engage in the discussion.

The real question was, Ferren suggested, is Smithsonian a fad? Will it be useful in 10 or 1000 years? Will it still be around or will it disappear? Is it CB radio (I think I'm too young to even know what that is...) or will it be fire (you know, with sticks and flames, provides heat and light...)?

He drew a wonderfully clear picture of time versus "something important" (be it technology, cell phone usage, or fraud on Wall Street, he said), depicting the curve of innovation versus the curve of how we respond to it.

Here it gets a little long and interesting, filled with digressions to the dome of the Pantheon, Ferren's own inspiration as an innovation in so many areas 1500 years ahead of its time.

But I took a picture of his whiteboard illustration.  It might be clearer if you check out the Web cast. Heh.

He emphasized storytelling. (And being a storyteller myself, I enjoyed that...)

Storytelling is how we remember things and see it.  Thus, this is one of the six things he mentioned for us to focus on.  (Either his numbering or mine is a little flaky, so the 5th or 6th might be confused...)

1. Vision.  This has to be re-interpreted for the 21st century. Diffusion of knowledge in the time of James Smithson is a totally different thing from what is it now. A la wikipedia, youtube, twitter...

2. Trust. It seems Ferren here is talking about a mutual trust. People have to trust the institution doesn't have an ulterior motive. And he also suggested that Smithsonian entrusts and gives away collections that are not virtually inaccessible and locked in dark rooms to the public. Have everyday citizens take care of them.

3. Talent. Attract the best and brightest of people, don't let them all go to Google. (He also mentioned Microsoft.  Personally I say Apple.)

4.  Embrace storytelling. (See above)

5. Crisis of education. Here Ferren talks about how a lot of school children aren't educated enough for engaging in the future.

6. Make it contemporary. Be the enabler for the next generation to disseminate information. Be what the Pantheon was for Ferren to the 9-year-olds with cell phones today.

So that was Ferren's comments in a fairly large nutshell.  Check out his whole lecture on the Web cast we'll be putting up. (Or have already?)

My thoughts, Ferren delivered a very appropriate lecture that sparked a lot of conversations and thoughts. He may seem just a tad idealistic in some of his statements, but shoot for the moon and we get somewhere far, right? And in lot of ways, his allusion to the Pantheon dome was just that, an idealism made into reality over 2000 years ago that continues to awe today.  Maybe it's not too ambitious to want the Smithsonian to come up with innovations that bedazzles the populace in 4000 years.

How exciting. See you in 7009!

So what are your thoughts? Do you see the Smithsonian as a fad or will it be (or is it) the next fire? How do we disseminate knowledge in a meaningful but also practical way? (Ferren does not really acknowledge much about intellectual property rights, copyright infringements, marketing, funding, etc. Though that wasn't really his task.)

SI 2.0: Web and New Media Fair

As part of the Smithsonian 2.0 event, the "Web and New Media Fair" highlights 31 projects from around the Smithsonian.

Today (January 22) we opened up the Fair to all Smithsonian staff to mix and mingle with some of our very own "digerati"!

About 120-130 SI staffers dropped by to learn about a host of exciting SI 2.0 sites and projects. It was great seeing Smithsonian staff representing art museums (Smithsonian American Art Museum), National Museum of Natural History, education offices from a couple of different units, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Libraries, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Global Sound & Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (ok, gotta stop now, I've broken the cardinal rule of once you mention one name, you gotta mention them all! - but I'll stop - wait, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, American History, Freer and Sackler Gallerers, Environmental Research Center, Tropical Research Institute - stop me! - African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, Arago from the National Postal Museum, the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum, Air & Space, and, National Museum of the American Indian - whew - I bet I forgot someone!

On Friday, our visiting guests will get an intense 5-7 minute "speed dating" experience with each of the projects!

Here are a few highlights:

Chandra Observatory (SAO)
The Chandra Observatory is an X-ray telescope in space, operated by SAO in Cambridge. The public website chandra.harvard.edu describes the discoveries made with Chandra through text, images and videos. The professional website http://cxc.harvard.edu provides terabytes of science data also freely available to the public, as well as the software needed to use it.

SIRIS Cross Searching Center (SI Wide)
EDAN is a metadata and services layer that will sit between SI’s collection systems and web applications. It will provide cross-Institutional, search and delivery of Institutional collection data and digital assets. SI has prototyped this cross-platform search functionality in the SIRIS Cross Catalog Searching Center and currently provides single-point access to 184,000 digital assets and data on 1.9 million collection objects.

Smithsonian Flickr Commons (SI)
In June 2008, the Smithsonian Institution was the fourth institution to launch on the Flickr Commons. The Commons gives the Smithsonian the opportunity to reach larger audiences with its photo collections. Currently, there are nine SI units on the Commons (Anacostia Community Museum, Archives of American Art, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Fishes, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Smithsonian Institution Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries).

Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (Smithsonian Latino Center)
The Smithsonian Latino Center, in partnership with Ohio University Vital Lab and Second Life’s Linden Labs are pleased to present the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (LVM), an avatar-based 3D virtual learning environment whose unique navigational features will provide access to the vast and rich collections, research and scholarship, exhibitions and educational activities of the Smithsonian Institution as they relate to U.S. Latinos and Latin America.

Be sure to take a look at the gallery of additional sites, not all of which were represented at the Fair due to space limitations. And for you Twitterites out there, follow us at: http://twitter.com/SmithsonianRSS

What Visitors are Saying: A View into the Smithsonian on the Flickr Commons

On June 16^th, 2008, the Smithsonian Institution made its first foray onto the world of social photo-sharing websites as the fourth institution to join the Flickr Commons. The Commons is a special area of Flickr that gathers together photo collections from both national and international libraries, museums, and archives.

Here is a summary of moments that have excited, and frankly at times, baffled us. 

People really do like portraits of long dead scientists

If the truth be told, none of the members of the Smithsonian Commons team expected much response to the SI Libraries photo set, “Portraits of Scientists and Inventors.” Boy were we wrong.

The scientists hold 4 of the top 20 slots for ‘most viewed’ photos from the Smithsonian photostream (Smithsonian photos have received over 1.2 million ‘views’ to date). To be fair, 3 of the 4 photos are of famous scientists (Albert Einstein and Marie Curie) and the fourth is an intriguing shot of Felix Nadar (photographer and aeronautical scientist) in a hot air balloon.

 

Portrait of Felix Nadar (1820-1910), Photographer and Aeronautical Scientist,1910, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2583275097/

“America’s Attic” is relevant in social media environments

…especially when it hits on current events (the presidential inauguration) or issues (evolution vs. creationism).

The SI Archives launched a set of rare, previously unpublished photos to the Commons which document the Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes Trial, a.k.a. “The Trial of the Century.” Flickr members debated constitutional amendments, science, and religion.

Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: The Seven scientists asked to testify for the defense standing in front of the Defense Mansions, 1925, by Walton Davis, Smithsonian Insitution Archives, http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2898310107/

We see historical record, they see creative inspiration

One flickr member, who happens to be a digital artist, was inspired by this portrait of Edward Gay from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art:

Reinterpretation of Edward Gay portrait (Smithsonian Archives of American Art) by Flickr user, "Lynchburg, Virginia,"  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynchburgvirginia/3078329663/

Web communities, like Flickr, aren’t just distractions for the hip and wired

Since joining the Commons, we have connected with fish researchers (www.fishbase.org), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see their identification of artworks from the Met’s collection attached as a note on a photo from the SI Arhives of American Art), history buffs, and enthusiastic fans around the world. 

In a non-scientific survey of 61 visitors to SI on the Commons, they self-identified as ‘regular people’, photographers, bloggers, students, researchers, educators, librarians, and even one craftsperson. As a side note, 100 % of these respondents have a more favorable opinion of the Smithsonian because of our participation in the Commons.